Georgia Crematory Operator Faces Lawsuit (Funeralgate link)

[DoYouEverWonder]

August 23, 2004

ROME, Ga. -- It was a scene too horrible to imagine: heaps of decaying bodies that were supposed to be cremated -- many spilling out of a storage shed, scattered around a crematory building and in nearby woods.

A civil lawsuit against former operator Brent Marsh and the estate of his late father, former owner Ray Brent Marsh, was to go to trial Monday, 2 1/2 years after the remains were discovered at the Tri-State Crematory in Noble, near the Tennessee line.

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A separate lawsuit went to trial last spring. It lasted about two weeks before all 58 funeral homes named as defendants for sending bodies to the crematory during 1988-02 reached settlements totaling $36 million.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-crematory-lawsuit,0,2311627.story?coll=sns-ap-nation-headlines

February 27, 2002
Last week Georgia's congressional delegation, including U.S. Sens. Max Cleland and Zell Miller, as well as U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal, all visited the site and expressed disbelief about what has happened as well as promised support for the cleanup and recovery efforts. Officials have begun rescinding early estimates of $5 million or $10 million to remedy the situation.

"They've already asked President Bush that it be declared a federal disaster area," Ashburn said. "I guess what makes this unique is in the past FEMA has handled natural disasters. Well after 9-11 they had said it's a new world because of the terrorist disasters, the Oklahoma bombing, and things of that nature. This is a new turn that has never been experienced in the United States and so there are things associated with that. But obviously this won't be a $5 million project it will be much more than that."

http://www.dadesentinel.com/022702-3.htm

It is no surprise that FEMA Director Joe Allbaugh (former Chief of Staff to then-Governor Bush) turned down the request.